Sara Gebran invited me to participate in the seminar Artists At Work as a panel member. I was asked to prepare a question about the role of danish artists in relation to interdisciplinarity, capitalism and the book ‘Artists At Work’ by Bojana Kunst.

My question is in relation to the work I have done in ‘Red Apples – Green Apples’ – a cooperation between Copenhagen and Cape Town. We learn from each other, share knowledge and develop methods of artistic research together. The cooperation has emerged from equal interests from both parts (Cph and CT). We communicate through artistic methods. In this way we create an artistic space together that is free from capitalist exploitation.

Parallel to this I experience how structures of colonialism is still deeply rooted in both the danish (european) and south african societies. In South Africa they still experience the impact of apartheid. Black people are raised to believe they are less worth than white people and many still believe that. Ngugi Wa Thiong’o talks about how to decolonize South Africa’s eurocentric higher education system by decolonizing the mind. But still, interests of exploitation of african resources are obstacles in this process.

In this sense I experience that artistic communication and cooperation has the power to show that it is possible to relate to each other on equal terms by creating a space outside of capitalism. My question for this process is: How can artistic communication and cooperation help in the process of liberating our colonised minds?

Supported by: Danish Arts Foundation and Dansehallerne